Student-Authored Publications

Pardee RAND Graduate School students participate in many RAND research projects through their On-the-Job Training. These projects provide students with tremendous opportunities to publish their work in RAND reports and peer-reviewed journals. In fact, many of our students develop an impressive publications record during their tenure at Pardee RAND, which enables them to compete successfully for positions at universities and other research institutions.

Below is a list of publications that our students have recently authored or co-authored. The list provides an excellent illustration of the range of publications that our students have had a hand in developing.

This study uses behavioral experiments and structured decision-maker interviews to evaluate the results of scenario discovery, a quantitative method that defines scenarios as sets of future states of the world in which proposed policies fail to meet their goals.

The authors examine how hospital adherence to quality improvement (QI) methods and hospital engagement with a large-scale QI campaign could facilitate the adoption of an enhanced prevention bundle designed to reduce surgical site infection (SSI) rates after orthopaedic surgery.

Seven years of continuous participation in either or both the lifestyle and disease management components of a large-scale workplace wellness program was associated with an average reduction of $30 in health care cost per member per month. When we looked at each component individually, we found that the disease management component was associated with lower costs and that the lifestyle management component was not. We estimate disease management to reduce health care costs by $136 per member per month, driven by a 29 percent reduction in hospital admissions.

The halving of the cocaine market in five years and the parallel (but independent) large rise in daily/near-daily marijuana use are major events that were not anticipated by the expert community and raise important theoretical, research, and policy issues.

2013

Provides a framework that the Department of Defense (DoD) can use to organize the strategic initiatives outlined in its 2012 Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan. The framework emphasizes the creation of an enduring accountability system and categorizes DoD's strategic initiatives along three key dimensions — compliance, communication, and coordination ("the three Cs") — and prioritizes them across time — short, medium, and long term.

This report analyses key societal challenges for the EU until 2030 by exploring the evidence base and uncertainties underpinning global trends — in areas such as migration, employment, inequality or empowerment — and their impact on the EU.

Recent RAND research identified practices and contextual factors associated with greater or lesser degrees of success in security cooperation. A related diagnostic tool maximizes the utility of these analyses and can help defense planners identify potential mismatches between security cooperation funding, priorities, and propensity for success with a given country.

The 2012 Colorado River Basin Study evaluated the resiliency of the Colorado River system over the next 50 years to climate change and other factors, and then compared different options and strategies for ensuring successful management of the river's resources. This report describes RAND's contribution to this study. It focuses on the Robust Decision Making methodologies used to identify vulnerabilities and compare portfolios of options.

Flood insurance payments can help households and businesses recover from an event and get the economy moving again. Premiums can also provide appropriate incentives to avoid or mitigate risk. This report examines dimensions of the changing flood insurance environment in New York City and explores the consequences for the city's residents and businesses.

The American Medical Association asked RAND Health to characterize the factors that affect physician professional satisfaction. RAND researchers sought to identify high-priority determinants of professional satisfaction by gathering data from 30 physician practices in six states, using a combination of surveys and semistructured interviews. This report presents the results of the subsequent analysis.